5 Days in Los Angeles (USA Part 1)
“The City of Angels” as it is affectionately known, captured my heart during a recent 5 day visit. To be honest, I wasn’t planning on staying for 5 days, but flight availability made this decision for me. And oh my, am I glad it worked out the way it did as we certainly had the opportunity to grow a full appreciation for this beautiful city, which is often very underrated!
After arriving in to LAX on an early morning flight, we made our way to our home for the next 5 nights which was The Orlando Hotel located between West Hollywood and Beverly Hills. Even though we were desperate for a shower and a nap after an awful long haul flight with not much sleep we weren’t able to check in so early, so after asking the reception staff for a map, we wandered off into the sunshine.
The Orlando Hotel is located on West 3rd Street, so it only took a 10 minute stroll and we found ourselves walking into the famous Original Farmers Market! This is an amazing collection of food stalls, restaurants and little shops, selling everything from Mexican, to Italian, to fresh pastries, meat and fish all in the one spot. Heaven on earth for the foodies amongst us, it is a definite must on your to do list when visiting LA, and for those who like to shop, it is connected to the beautiful Grove Shopping Mall which is a stunning open air complex offering shops for all tastes and budgets.
For our second day in LA, I had booked an Urban Adventures Day Tour for us. This was my first experience with Urban Adventures and it definitely exceeded all expectations! We booked the Total LA Tour which was a full day trip beginning in Hollywood. We met our tour guide Mike and realised we were the only two people booked on the tour that day, so we had our own private tour! Mike was a local and was so full of interesting information and advice, we learnt so much from him and we could see how much he loved showing off his home town. Our tour began with a viewing of the Hollywood Sign and Highlands, before continuing through the Dolby Theatre, El Capitan Theatre, Chinese Theatre, Roosevelt Hotel and also the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Then came our first little hidden gem. From Hollywood, we walked for about 15 minutes before coming to ‘Wattles Farm’ which is a gorgeous little community farm where locals can have their very own plot to grow veggies, flowers, fruit or whatever they wish. It was so peaceful and quiet and hard to believe we were so close to the city. It would be such a welcome outlet for locals looking to escape the hustle and bustle and tend to their gardens which were so rare to have in the city. From Wattles Farm, we caught a bus to the Farmers Market which was our lunch stop for the day. Having already explored the area the day before, we were able to sit back and enjoy some lovely pizza in the sunshine! After lunch we caught another bus to Beverly Hills and caught our first glimpse of the rich and famous lifestyle! We explored the park and look photos in front of the famous Beverly Hills sign. From there we walked to the famous Paley Centre for Media, which was formerly known as the Museum of Television & Radio and the Museum of Broadcasting. Dedicated to the discussion of the cultural, creative and social significance of television, radio and emerging platforms for the professional community and the media interested public. Around the corner from the Paley Centre was our next surprise, a visit to the original Sprinkles Cupcake Shop. As soon as you opened the door it smelt divine. The brand is famous for its beautiful cupcakes and a tasting is included in the tour – yum! From Sprinkles we walked down the famous Rodeo Drive, eyeing off all of the shops I could only dream of being able to afford to shop in! So many beautifully dressed people and fancy cars! At the end of Rodeo Drive, we caught another bus, this time headed down to Santa Monica. It took about an hour to get down there but it was worth the drive! Such a stunning spot. We spent some time wandering down Santa Monica Pier before Mike took us to a bike hire shop. We hired bikes and cycled down the bike path along the beach, all the way to Venice Beach. Venice Beach is totally opposite to Santa Monica, a lot more grungy looking and home to the famous Muscle Gym and the skate park where Tony Hawk used to skate. After taking some photos we headed back to Santa Monica and caught the train back into Hollywood. Such a great over view of all of the best parts of LA all in one day, I would highly recommend!
On our third day we visited Warner Bros Studios. Warner Bros tends to get a bit over shadowed by Universal Studios for those who are on a limited time schedule, but I am so glad we made the time to visit! If you are interested in learning about how TV and movies are put together, then this is an amazing visit. You are taken on a guided tour of the grounds and shown all of the behind the scenes outdoor sets and sound stages. We were lucky enough to view the set of 2 Broke Girls which wasn’t filming at the time, but was still super cool to see how the different sets work. We also visited the DC Universe Comics Exhibit, the real Central Perk Friends Set (and yes we got to sit on the couch!), the original Batmobile Collection and heaps more. We even got to experience first hand how filming of the Broomstick/Quidditch scenes in Harry Potter are filmed using Green screens! If you plan your trip in advance, visit tvtickets.com and you might be lucky enough to score yourselves free tickets to be in the studio audiences of whatever shows are being filmed at the time. Advance bookings are required though.
Our forth day was planned to be a bit of a free day, however we quickly filled it up with things we wanted to see and do! Gazz really wanted to see the Staples Centre so we heading down that way and explored the stadium. We weren’t able to go inside, but it was still cool to explore the outside and take photos in front of the statues! Mike (our Urban Adventures Guide) had suggested we go and check out the Griffiths Observatory to get the best views of the Hollywood Sign, as well as over the city, so that was our next stop. He wasn’t wrong, the views are breathtaking! It’s free to enter and they have some talks and guided tours if you wish. It's really worth checking out! We had lunch up there and then headed back down into Hollywood to spend the afternoon cruising around on the Hop on Hop Off Bus. We didn’t get off anywhere, but were happy just sitting and listening to the commentary!
Our last full day saw us visiting Universal Studios. I am a bit of a Harry Potter Fan so I was very excited to visit the Harry Potter Exhibit and I was not disappointed! They have done an amazing job with bringing the story to life. You can even taste test a Butterbeer and Every Flavour Beans if you dare! We pre-purchased a Front of Line ticket and I can’t recommend it enough. It allows you to skip the line of each ride once per day, and when some of the lines were over 90 minutes long, it felt pretty damn good to walk straight to the front, hop on the ride and be out of there in less than 10 minutes! I’m sure some of the people we walked past were pretty envious! It is a fantastic family day out, or great for adults without kids as well. Definitely brings back some great childhood memories! They have some fantastic live shows, showcasing their incredible special effects, and the studio tour is fantastic and takes you through some incredible sets. Well worth doing both Universal and Warner Bros if you have the time!
So there you have it, 5 days in LA! If you want to know more or want to plan your visit, please don’t hesitate to contact me!
A x